Founder of Telegram announced plans to launch a decentralized platform for trading digital currencies. Our experts told us how successful this project could be. And whether its development will be hindered by regulators

The next step in development of Telegram is the creation of decentralized tools. Including cryptocurrencies, as well as decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges, Pavel Durov said on November 30.

“This is how we can correct the mistakes caused by excessive centralization, which has failed hundreds of thousands of cryptocurrency users,” wrote the head of Telegram.

He explained that the blockchain industry was built on the principle of decentralization. But it turned out to be concentrated in the hands of a limited circle of individuals abusing their power.

“As a result, many people lost their money when one of major crypto exchanges FTX went bankrupt,” Durov recalled.

He said the solution to the problem is for blockchain projects to return to decentralization. And users should switch to transactions and wallets that do not depend on any third party.

The founder of Telegram said that he and four other people launched a decentralized domain name auction platform Fragment in five weeks. It is based on the blockchain platform TON, which Durov called fast and efficient enough to host popular apps. At the same time, Durov criticized Ethereum, calling it outdated and expensive, even after the latest global network upgrade.

“Fragment is amazingly successful. In less than a month the platform has sold $50 million worth of user names. This week Fragment will go beyond user names,” Durov said.

How will regulators treat Telegram cryptoexchange?

In terms of resources and the existing experience of Telegram team in developing TON project. Creation of such a project as a decentralized exchange and cryptocurrency wallets seems realistic, our experts believe. However, the current global trend in regulation of cryptoassets turnover is tightening and streamlining of control requirements.

Since details of this project and specifics of functioning of announced project are not disclosed. At the moment, it is difficult for our experts to assess how it will meet the requirements of the legislation of different countries.

What are the future prospects for this Telegram project?

Decentralized crypto exchanges are difficult to regulate because they are essentially not companies. Therefore, it is legally possible to prohibit such exchanges, but it is more difficult to limit their activities. Our expert stressed that liability in case of using such exchanges from the legal point of view does not apply to their creators. It extends more to ordinary users in each specific transaction.

Our experts admit the possibility that the launch of this site may be timed to the lifting of SEC ban. Which is imposed on Durov until July 2023 because of the attempted launch of the TON platform with the participation of investors from USA.

Most likely, the new DEX exchange will not be connected to Telegram in any way. Except for simplified authorization and a number of mechanics. Otherwise, they are definitely two different products.

What risks will ordinary users face when using a new DEX exchange from Telegram?

Most likely, DEX exchange will be created on TON blockchain. The main advantage of a decentralized platform is that it does not store users’ cryptocurrency. The exchange only brings together buyers and sellers of digital financial assets, without intermediaries. And users do not need to open an exchange account for such transactions – transactions are made from investors’ wallets.

That is, there is no risk of losing their funds if the exchange decides to block them. As, for example, happens now with the centralized exchanges, which go bankrupt.

The only risk of participation in transactions on the decentralized exchange is the risk of losses due to delays in price updates. And you will need to pay a commission for transactions on that DEX exchange.

Huobi to issue Dominica Coin, approved by government of the island state of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Review by Crypto-Upvotes experts

Crypto exchange Huobi announced plans to launch the world’s first national token in honor of Commonwealth of Dominica. In cooperation with blockchain Tron Network and DMC Labs and with the approval of the island nation’s government. Dominica Coin will be launched on Tron Network.

The Commonwealth of Dominica is a state on the island of the same name in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. The area of its territory is 751 km², and its population is about 75 thousand people. Official currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar. It is used in 8 countries of Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Project Huobi will also include the launch of the Dominica DID. Both Dominica DID and DMC will initially be issued on the Tron network. Because it has become Dominica’s national blockchain infrastructure. In the future, the developers plan to make the DMC token interoperable with Ethereum, BSC and other networks via the BitTorrent Chain protocol.

How to get DMC ?

DMC will be released on Huobi Prime. In addition, exchange will hold an airdrop of DMC tokens (giveaway). And it will also include a Dominica DID application for each registered user.

Users will be able to create Soul-Bound Tokens with Dominica DID on the Tron network. An SBT or non-transferable token is a type of NFT asset that is issued in a single instance and is tied to a specific blockchain address. In Metaverse Dominica, SBT holders will be entitled to digital citizenship of this metaverse. At the same time, they will be able to claim passports issued by the Dominica government. Which allow their holders visa-free access to more than 130 countries and regions around the world. Including EU, Switzerland, UK, Singapore, Russia, Brazil and Hong Kong.

Just like TRX and USDD tokens, DMC will have legal status in the Commonwealth of Dominica and can be used as a means of payment in that country. It will be used as a native token in the Dominica metaverse

Computing power of BTC mining equipment also began to decline. In addition to profits of miners, hashrate of network fell by 13% during one month

Bitcoin mining profits have fallen to their lowest in two years, with BTC mining profits totaling $11.6 million on Nov. 26, according to Blockchain.com. Miners last earned less than this amount on November 2, 2020, on that day they received $10.9 million at a BTC exchange rate of about $13,700.

Falling profits for miners come amid the steepest decline in bitcoin since 2018. On November 28, BTC is trading near $16,200, down 76.5% from its all-time high.

In the last 24 hours, 131 blocks of Bitcoin were mined, the reward of miners at the current rate was $13.2 million. Most of the blocks (34 units) were mined by miners connected to the Foundry USA pool. AntPool (25) and Binance (19) followed by F2pool (16) and ViaBTC (12).

Bitcoin network hashrate (the total capacity of all mining equipment connected to the network) declined. On November 2, it peaked at 273 Eh/s and fell by 13% to 237 Eh/s during the month. Decrease in computing power means that some of equipment was switched off by miners.

In addition to falling BTC price, a negative factor for mining cryptocurrency was also an increase in the complexity of its mining. On November 21, this indicator renewed its all-time high and rose to a record 36.95 T. Our experts note that next change in mining complexity should occur around December 5.

Crypto-Upvotes experts explained reason of the last fall of BTC price. And told how it can change in coming days

Last week from November 21 to 27, BTC updated its yearly low. High volatility on crypto market was observed at the beginning of this week. Bitcoin sales intensified on news of the possible bankruptcy of Genesis. Which had $175 million hanging in the collapsed FXT exchange. The BTC/USDt pair was down to $15,400.

BTC price did not go lower. The sales were stopped by a representative of Genesis. He said that company continues to negotiate with creditors and does not plan to declare bankruptcy in the near future. The Wall Street Journal reported that billionaire Justin Sun is considering options for the acquisition of certain FTX assets. This news backdrop formed a nice session bullish trend on the intraday charts. Also, the cryptocurrency market received support from the weakening U.S. dollar in forex. As well as the growth of stock indices in the U.S. before the release of the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on November 1-2. Bitcoin rose 8.6% to $16,800 in 53 hours.

Buyer activity was halted by news that Genesis had hired a restructuring consultant to explore all options, including bankruptcy.

On Thursday low activity on all world exchanges can be explained by day off in the USA. Markets in the States did not work because of the national Thanksgiving holiday. On Friday, trading was at the level of $16.5 thousand.

As long as there is no negative news, Bitcoin is trying to climb out of the hole Sam Bankman-Fried sent it into. Fear of a possible collapse is keeping investors from active action. Buyers need to pass $17.15k and $18.5k for the FTX exchange collapse to recede into the background.

No factors for BTC growth

After shocks associated with the collapse of FTX, the crypto market is frozen, waiting for new factors for movement. Most likely, there will be no strong changes. Bitcoin now trades at $16.2k, the same dynamics is expected in the next (range $16-16.5k). In the absence of negative news, of course, because there is no positive news to expect.

Level of $18.5k is the key resistance level. Its overcoming will open the way for buyers to $22.5k. Also it will allow many miners to accumulate BTC and not to sell at low prices. Sellers are still set to bring the market down to the $10-12k zone.

The most important event this week is the report on the US labor market in November. As the cryptocurrency market has decoupled from the S&P500. Then it can ignore the price swings of the dollar and the S&P500 after the report is published. If Bitcoin reacts to U.S. statistics. Then again we can look at correlation and stronger correlation with other risky assets.

There will likely be more reports of problems in the crypto industry this week. Even if not as significant and large as with FTX. For example, it is now known that the ecosystem of decentralized finance and stable dUSD coin Ardana. Which is based on the blockchain Cardano, has announced the suspension of project development. Because there is now uncertainty about the funding and timing of this project.

The next negative report is that cryptocurrency lender Matrixport is looking for $100 million in funding. Lead investors have already committed $50 million to the company, but the deal has not yet been finalized. As Matrixport needs to find those who will close the other half of volume.

Conclusion

There are no factors for growth of digital financial assets. Main thing is that there are no new ” Black Swans ” – poorly predictable negative events. In this case, Bitcoin will remain at the level of about $16.5k. However, if there are new reports about difficulties on cryptocurrencies, it can fall to $14-15k.

Scotland Yard cybercrime unit has tracked down phone scam suspects after examining cryptocurrency payments. Review by Crypto-Upvotes experts

Analysis of Bitcoin transactions helped British police arrest more than 100 people, according to Metropolitan Police. In the largest scam operation in the country’s history. Which was conducted by Scotland Yard, was dismantled site iSpoof and caught the suspects of telephone scams.

iSpoof allowed scammers to impersonate tax officials and banks. This included Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds and others. Phone scammers tried to trick people into giving up money or providing confidential information. For example, disposable bank account access codes. iSpoof disguised phone numbers to make it appear that scammers were calling from a trusted source. With iSpoof, scammers paid in Bitcoin.

The average loss, among those who complained of fraud, was £10,000. It is believed that in total victims of scammers lost tens of millions of pounds. Whereas iSpoof scammers made almost £3.2 million in 20 months. According to police, more than 200 thousand potential victims in Britain alone were attacked through the site. In one year, iSpoof made about 10 million scam calls around the world.

Operation to identify this criminal group was carried out by the cybercrime unit of London Police with the assistance of Europol, FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Investigators began their investigation in June 2021. They collected information from the iSpoof website, and initially the circle of suspects was 59,000 people. So they began tracking only those UK residents on Bitcoin transactions. Who spent at least £100 in Bitcoin on this site.

A wave of arrests followed in the country, and information about other suspects was passed on to law enforcement colleagues in Netherlands, Australia, France and Ireland.

Singaporeans suffered big losses from FTX collapse due to switching to it after Binance was banned in that country. MAS explained why there were restrictions on Binance and no restrictions on FTX

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a statement explaining why crypto-exchange FTX – in advance of its collapse – was not included in the document. Which warns investors about the illegality of this company’s activities on state territory.

Singapore was the second hardest hit by the FTX crash. According to a CoinGecko report, Singapore accounted for 5% of global traffic to FTX.com. That is, on average, more than 241,000 unique users per month. Analysts attribute this to the fact that the ban of Binance exchange in 2021 in Singapore led to. That users of the exchange Binance moved to FTX.

The MAS, which serves as the country’s central bank, maintains an Investor Alert List (IAL). This list includes those companies that could be mistakenly perceived as licensed or permitted by the regulator. On September 2, 2021, Binance.com was included in this list.

In a November 21 statement, MAS explains why it treated Binance differently than FTX. And included Binance in the IAL list, while FTX did not. Despite the fact that both Binance and FTX are not licensed in Singapore. But Binance actively attracted users in Singapore and offered products in Singapore dollars. FTX did not, according to the MAS report.

In addition, Binance has received complaints about unlicensed customer referrals on its part. Binance was also investigated for possible violations of the Payment Services Act.

Regarding FTX, the regulator said there was no evidence that it attracted Singaporean users. And this platform did not offer products in Singapore dollars.

Conclusions from FTX fiasco

MAS also said that there are hundreds of such exchanges and thousands of other offshore organizations. Which accept investments. MAS does not have the ability to put them all on the IAL list. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to deal with such organizations.

According to regulator, the most important lesson from the FTX fiasco is that transactions with any cryptocurrency on any platform are dangerous.

Our experts conclude that MAS was somehow interested in FTX. Because the blocking of Binance was done and the second top exchange, as if they did not notice. In any case, we agree with them that operations with any cryptocurrency on any platform are risks.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts have analyzed situation on cryptocurrency market. And told how Bitcoin price can change in the next few days

Last week, from November 14 to 20, trading on the crypto market was relatively quiet. Increased volatility was observed on the first day of the week. Bitcoin/USDt jumped from $15.8 th. to $17.1 th. (+8.69%). Growth in quotations was caused by the head of Binance, Changpeng Zhao. He said he will launch a fund to rebuild the industry and help promising companies. He did so to reduce the negative impact from collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

After updating the weekly high price stabilized in the range of $16 thousand – $17 thousand Investors are in no hurry to buy Bitcoin because they took a wait-and-see attitude. Because of fears of the next wave of sales on the background of new bankruptcies of companies related to the collapsed exchange FTX.

For ten days, market is in the phase of rest after a recent collapse. Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P500 Index has turned negative at 0.62. Crypto market has stopped reacting to the dynamics of dollar and stock indices. Investors are busy transferring tokens from centralized exchanges to cold wallets. They are doing this to protect their cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin price is at $16,000 waiting for a new batch of news about crypto industry. As buyers have failed to quickly get the price back above $18,500. A level of $12k is still flashing green for sellers below, signaling a lack of resistance. Because of a collapse in FTX, events could begin to unfold in a worst case scenario for Bitcoin and crypto investors. Buyers need to consolidate above $18.5k. Without consolidation, bearish sentiment will not be offset.

There is a threat of new bankruptcies, and continued collapse of crypto market

So far, the ratio of long and short positions on futures market does not have any bias. Therefore, we do not expect a sharp change in the situation in the next few days.

On-chain parameters also speak in favor of absence of preconditions for fall. There is also growing interest in cold wallets, amid outflow of capital from CEX exchanges because of scandal with FTX.

Most likely scenario is a continuation of current levels. Accordingly, expected range of BTC price is about $16-17 thousand.

Among stability risks, there is a threat of new bankruptcies followed by an avalanche of liquidations. There are no guarantees that it will not happen this week. But the probability is not high either. And statements of major players about creation of crypto-business support funds to prevent exactly such chain reactions in the market. Should add optimism and confidence in protection of crypto industry from collapse.

Of important – it is worth to highlight protocol of November meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which will be published on November 23. Bitcoin is detached from risky assets, so it may ignore investors’ reaction to the publication of these protocols.

In what cases is borrowed liquidity useful in DeFi. And also what dangers it brings. And how to borrow for a user who owns Bitcoins. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Rapid falls and rises in quotations are characteristic of cryptocurrency sector. Part of the high volatility is due to the large share of borrowed capital involved in transactions. Nevertheless, convenient borrowed liquidity is also one of strong points and features of DeFi finance.

Virtually every blockchain ecosystem has its own decentralized finance loan protocol. And the largest blockchains even have several. Such protocols work roughly the same way: by freezing their coins in a smart contract, users can release liquidity. When they receive credit in desired cryptocurrency or stabelcoins, interest accrues on deposit and borrowing. And for using a platform, a bonus is given as tokens to vote on future protocol development. Stablecoin borrowing usually comes at an impressively low interest rate of 1% to 2% per year.

Annual interest rates for coin deposits to the protocol or borrowing are identical for most large and time-tested platforms. Therefore, users can choose a product based solely on the overall usability of a particular blockchain and its software solutions. Thus, if a user, for example, frequently makes coin exchanges on Solana. And on the same blockchain plays some kind of P2E game, then the loan protocol as well, if needed. It will be more convenient for him to choose on the same blockchain.

DeFi borrowing is very easy and fast

This is an extremely convenient and fast process, which speeds up the already rapid movement of liquidity within the cryptocurrency sector.

When the market falls, traders using DeFi loans are forced to close their positions quickly. Because there is a danger of liquidation of collateral, thereby further accelerating the fall. When the market rises, it is also easy for traders to continue to create new buying volume. As the value of collateral assets rises, it makes it possible to increase the size of loans.

Similarly, borrowing protocols have already been used many times in market manipulations to collapse the rate of coins.

Is borrowing a unique advantage of crypto-assets or a dangerous trap?

The practice of borrowing against property or other valuables has been known since ancient times and is still widely used today. However, cryptocurrencies stand out among all other types of assets because of the incredible ease of obtaining borrowed liquidity. And complete freedom of its movement.

Owners of classic stocks in brokerage accounts might object. Because most brokerage platforms also provide credit leverage. Which is based on the capital available to this user. This is true, but there are two key differences that drastically distinguish web2 and web3.

For web2, the annual interest rate on borrowed brokerage funds will be significantly higher. And you will only be able to use the funds conveniently within the original platform. In the case of DeFi, borrowed funds are instantly deposited into the user’s wallet. And immediately can be used and transferred to third-party wallets and services without any restrictions.

When is borrowed liquidity useful?

The most valuable use of DeFi borrowing will be for those wishing to preserve the growth potential of their assets. Since its launch, crypto sector has been in a correction most of the time. Conversely, only briefly at its price peaks. Such moments are easy to miss if you sell an asset when you need dollar liquidity. And hope to buy it again later. And a rapid rise can happen in a few weeks or even days.

Borrowed liquidity can also be particularly useful for emerging market users with small deposits. Who strive to increase their crypto-assets portfolio step by step, if possible. For such category of users, the use of DeFi-protocols allows not to part with crypto-assets during an unfavorable market phase.

Of course, such tools carry a lot of dangers for inexperienced users. It is critical to keep statistics of all borrowings made. As well as to monitor your open positions. Which is based on the ratio of borrowed liquidity to the provided collateral. The safest ratio is no more than 1/3.

We recommend using only the least volatile of the coins, such as ETH or BTC, as collateral. Volatility of BTC has been steadily declining this year, and amid geopolitical instability has fallen below many fiat currencies and even the S&P500 index.

I have Bitcoin, how do I get liquidity and what are these risks?

The crypto sector’s flagship blockchain does not support smart contracts by default. Therefore, the first action for BTC holders on its main network would be to transfer Bitcoin to another network. One that supports DeFi-interactions. It is possible to move to another network in a decentralized way, using one of the bridges. Or by using a centralized exchange. In this case, the user will need to bring your BTCs to exchange, sell them, withdraw amount in main asset of destination network (for example, for Matic it will be Matic). And then exchange the asset back to the “wrapped” BTC on the new blockchain using any of DEX. At the same time, leaving some asset to the network itself to pay subsequent commissions.

Despite the many pros and little studied new ways of using borrowed liquidity. Its use remains extremely dangerous and involves risks every step of the way. Smart contract hacks, credit protocol oracle failures. Which can lead to accidental liquidations. Or the excitement and gambling addiction from feeling the possibility of getting “free funds” . This is just a short list of dangers awaiting users.

Binance also plans to take a lead in setting global industry standards in wake of bankruptcy of FTX. Crypto-Upvotes expert review.

The Binance exchange will create a relief fund for crypto projects that are strong at the core but face a liquidity crisis, head Changpeng Zhao wrote on his Twitter page. According to him, this fund will be created to reduce negative impact of the FTX collapse on industry.

Head of Binance urged other participants of cryptoindustry to join this project as well. Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun was the first to respond, telling Binance that Tron, as well as Huobi Global and Poloniex exchanges, would support this project. A little later, developers of Ethereum Pow responded to this call.

In addition, Binance plans to take a lead in setting global standards in this industry. Zhao said this, speaking at a conference in Indonesia, according to Blomberg. Binance’s chief executive said there was a need for greater transparency in industry and close cooperation with regulators around the world.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts told us what dynamics to expect from Bitcoin and digital currency market in short term

On November 14, Bitcoin exchange rate is about $16.5 thousand. During the last week, it fell by more than 20%. Our experts have analyzed this situation on crypto market and told what kind of dynamics to expect in next week.

Any negative news will bring down crypto market

The second week of November reversed all the achievements of buyers since mid-September. The collapse of the crypto market occurred due to the fiasco of negotiations between the head of Binance Changpeng Zhao and the head of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried.

Changpeng Zhao caused a liquidity crisis at the FTX exchange on Monday with his announcement that he would sell FTT tokens. As it turned out, most of the assets of FTX-affiliated company Alameda ($14.6 billion) were FTT tokens.

The Binance CEO wiped out a huge competitor in a matter of days. There is an opinion that he intentionally made public statements about selling FTT. The collapse in crypto market was partly localized by U.S. statistics on Thursday. Slowing inflation in the U.S. collapsed the dollar and boosted demand for risky assets. Traders sold off the U.S. currency on expectations of a slowdown in the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hike cycle. The BTC/USDt pair jumped 16% to $18,200.

Although Dollar Index continued to fall on Friday, cryptocurrency halted its rise. Sam Benkman-Fried undermined confidence in the crypto industry. Investors fear the collapse of other cryptocurrencies that have had liquidity problems because of FTX. We just don’t know about it yet. Alameda may be “dumping” its portfolio on the market to take advantage of a price rebound.

The inflation report temporarily diverted investors’ attention away from FTX problems. Although situation in market remains tense. After a collapse and rebound, Bitcoin/USDt is trading at $16,400 in the range of $15,600-$18,200. Shock has passed, but buyer activity is very low. Without new negative news, the continuation of the correction above $18.5k remains. In such conditions, it will be a feat for the buyers. According to our experts, the risks of Bitcoin decline to $12,000 are over 70%. The market is low-liquid, so any bad news on the collapse of some other exchange with its token will collapse crypto market within a day.

Prospects for Bitcoin to rise to $20,000 in coming week

Unfortunately, our experts do not see prerequisites for Bitcoin recovery even up to $20K. All that positive impulse, which the market got after the data about growth of consumption prices in the USA. But crisis around FTX, which is still in its acute phase and just started to develop, didn’t let BTC grow and it fell below $17K again.

This week market will wait for developments around FTX. And the details of the debts of Alameda and FTX. As well as possible solutions to the problem of repayment of debts to clients. Regulators will definitely take action, because many companies related to the American market, Galaxy Digital and Circle, have been affected.

It’s not yet completely clear how catastrophic the collapse of Alameda would be for those companies that Sam Bankman-Fried was actively rescuing in recent months. Rumors have surfaced about Alameda’s liabilities of up to $50 billion. This could be a real counterpart to a collapse of Lehman Brothers for crypto market.

Our forecast for BTC this week is that it might fall to $14-15K and it will hardly go lower because, judging by Order Book, there are huge buy orders. So even if Bitcoin falls below that level, it will be bought back immediately.